After the first series of "Life with Luigi", starring J. Carroll Naish, was cut short in January 1953, due to problems with the sponsor (General Food), a "New Life with Luigi" started on April 9, 1953. The all new cast consisted of Vito Scotti, Thomas Gomez and Muriel Landers playing "Rosa". Again it lasted but a few months.
Sorry for the poor picture quality.


This movie is part of the collection: Classic TV

Audio/Visual: sound, color
Keywords: Life with Luigi; Classic TV; 50's; Live TV; Kinescope; 1950's Television; CBS; 1953; Sitcom

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Reviewer: ucla1960 - - October 12, 2011
Subject: Vito Scotti Italian American
Vito Scotti was a brilliant actor you clod.

Reviewer: adamelijah - - January 19, 2011
Subject: The Shadow of Luigi
This Spring 1952 Television revival of Life with Luigi was a pale comparison to the fun of the radio serioes and the original television show.

Vito Scotti simply couldn't compare to J. Carroll Naish. And speaking of downgrades, Thomas Gomez couldn't compare to Alan Reed as Pasquale.

They also messed with the formula of Life with Luigi and in every way, it detracted from the show. This episode features no scheming by Pasquale, which is pretty much what brought conflict to Luigi's world.

What both the 1952 TV version with Naish and this one could have used wss a little of Hans Conreid as Schultz. Sadly neither version got Conreid and this episode doesn't feature the Schultz character.

The one redeeming part of this episode is a touching scene where Luigi convinces the store manager to give him a loan. This almost captures the warmth and innocence of Naish. Almost.

This episode is mainly of use as a historical object lesson. Network television has a long history of lousing up perfectly good television shows. Before there was Galactica 1980, there was Life with Luigi 1953.